Aberdeen's surprise over Duk Player of the Year omission as Barry Robson reveals what he is like to coach

Barry Robson revealed his surprise over Aberdeen striker Duk’s omission from the nominees for the PFA Scotland Premiership Player of the Year.

The Cape Verde international has been an inspirational presence for the Dons in the final third with his all-action style, scoring 16 goals in the process in what is his first season in Scotland. It was enough to warrant him a spot in the Team of the Year but not on the four-man shortlist made up of Celtic trio Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furuhashi and Motherwell’s Kevin van Veen.

“I’m a bit surprised, yeah,” the Dons boss said. “That’s not to take away from the other players who have been terrific. It’s not easy to get into that select few. You need to remember that some of the other players’ performances have been really high. Some of the Celtic players have been outstanding and I think big Van Veen at Motherwell has scored 25 goals this season, which is a terrific return. He’s done really well.

“I’m just biased because I love the boys here and they’ve been great for me. Every manager will be the same. We just need to keep performing well and hopefully score a few more goals before the end of the season, when maybe the vote should’ve been done.”

Coaching Duk

Robson, the Premiership's Manager of the Month for April, was effusive in his praise of Duk who has emerged as a cult hero at Pittodrie, aided by a fruitful partnership with Bojan Miovski. His trajectory has been one of continued progression since arriving from Benfica B in the summer, even if he understands assistant coach Steve Agnew a "bit better".

“He’s brilliant,” Robson said when asked what the striker is like to coach. “He takes on information, he’s humble and he wants to do well. He’s a good teammate. You can see him struggling a wee bit with the language, especially when he’s trying to listen to me! I think he understands Aggers a bit better. That’s why I just walk him into positions. But he’s a great kid, honestly you would love him. He’s a pleasure to work with.

“There’s been lots of stuff we’ve worked on. We’ve had to be careful that there’s not been a real information overload. There’s a certain type of way we want to play, there’s a lot of structure we build in to let us be good at attacking. It’s far too much detail to go into, but it’s every day, there’s a lot of analysis and screens. There’s lots of stuff that goes on in the training pitch every day. There’s a lot of communication but we need to do it in a simplistic form. But Duk takes everything in.”

Aberdeen manager Barry Robson has been delighted with Duk and his work on the training pitch. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

Robson confirmed Ross McCrorie is “back on the bike and doing some light jogging” following hernia surgery and revealed he had spoken to Dean Campbell, who helped Stevenage win promotion from League Two in England on loan, while Jack Milne and Kieran Ngwenya have returned from their loan spells.

“I’ve said to them they need to focus on the gym work, for now, to prepare their bodies for next season, to get bulked up," he said.